US revokes foreign terrorist designation for Syria's HTS

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members are seen in Damascus. (Reuters photo)

WASHINGTON  -  President Donald Trump's administration has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation for Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, according to a State Department memo filed on Monday, a major step as Washington moves to ease sanctions on Syria.

The June 23-dated memo was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and was published in a preview of the Federal Register before official publication on Tuesday.

In December, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led other Islamist rebels in a lightning offensive that ousted Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad. Then-HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa became Syrian president and said he wanted to build an inclusive and democratic Syria.

The move comes a week after Trump signed an executive order terminating a U.S. sanctions program on Syria, to help end the country's isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington's pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war.

"In consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I hereby revoke the designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization," Rubio wrote in the memo.

HTS was previously known as al-Nusra Front when it was al-Qaeda's Syria branch. It broke off ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. 

Syria's foreign ministry told Reuters that the lifting of sanctions on HTS was a "positive step toward correcting a course that previously hindered constructive engagement."

The written statement said Syria hoped the move would "contribute to the removal of remaining restrictions that continue to impact Syrian institutions and officials, and open the door to a rational, sovereign-based approach to international cooperation." 

The ministry also said that Sharaa was planning to attend the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September. The U.N. Security Council still has sanctions on both HTS and Sharaa himself, which require a Council decision to remove.

Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May where, in a major policy shift, Trump unexpectedly announced he would lift U.S. sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its measures.

 (Reporting by Humeyra PamukAdditional reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Tomasz Janowski // REUTERS)